Bradley County

The Bradley County Seat of Cleveland has been known for its production of stoves for about 150 years. Here, in 1898, are some of the employees of Cleveland's Harwick Stove Company. (PHOTO: Museum at Five Points)

There's a lot of Cherokee history in Bradley County.

The council house at Red Clay Historic State Park

In 1832, stripped of their rights in the state of Georgia, members of the tribe moved their seat of government from New Echota in northwest Georgia to Red Clay, in Bradley County. But Red Clay would not be the Cherokee capital for long. Only six years later the tribe would be sent west on a journey we now know as the Trail of Tears.

Click here for a virtual tour of the Red Clay State Historic Park and a story about what happened there.

Henegar House, in Charleston

At the opposite end of the county is Charleston, a small community with many links to Cherokee history. Charleston was once the site of Fort Cass, a headquarters that the U.S. Army used in its roundup of Cherokee in advance of the Trail of Tears. Nothing is left of Fort Cass, but you can find several historic homes there.

Huff's parade upon his return to Bradley County

Bradley County was also the home of Paul Huff, one of Tennessee's seven Congressional Medal of Honor recipients from World War II. According to his citation, Huff was in Italy when he advanced alone in the face of heavy fire to determine the strength and location of the enemy. As a result of information he gained, an American patrol routed 125 German soldiers a few minutes later.

Here (to the right) is a picture of the current Bradley County Courthouse . . .

And here is a picture of the courthouse that was torn down in the 1950s to make way for the existing Bradley County Courthouse.